New Ulm weekly review., 1887-09-07
SOL. TAYLOR'S ESCAPE.

came West when was seventeen
years OF age (said old Sol. Taylor,
of GEORGETOWN, Colorado, the
other day., and now I'm bit over
sixty. You can fgger that up and see
how long I've been skirmishing with
Indians, grizzlies, and pantners, rattle
snakes and the other pesky varmints
of the mountain, plain and prairie.
There hasn't been an Indian warrior the
last half century that haven't lad a
hand in, and recon I've had as many
sstand-up fights on my own hook as
any scout or hunter you can name.
i have been captured and put to the
torture twice. and been captured and
got away without torture three or
four times. In times OF peace I have
lived with the Pawnees, Kiowas,
.Apaches, Sioux, Cheyennes, and Black
feet, and in times OF war have fought
all these tribes. Mebbe / am, there
fore, y purity good judge OF Indian ma
tur, and when you ask
me which tribe of redskins has the
most honor reply that I never yet
saw an Indain whom I would trust a
rod. The only reason that some of
EN- have served the Government as
scouts and traitors is because they
happened to hate their own kind just
then a little wuss than they did the
white man. However, you want some
of my own adventures, and will give
you one: :s
Before the days Of railroads in the
West man who was spilin' for an
Indian fight could get it within rifle
shot Of Fort Kearney, and this state
of affairs continued up to 1866 and
later. The last time was captured
was on the Smoky Hill fork OF the
Kansas River, and it was while the
railroad was being pushed across the
State Of Kansas. A railroad through
the Indian country meant good-by to
game and good-by to the Indian. The
redskin realized this as forcibly
as the white man, and he
was on hand to fight the
progress of the road. He was
foolish enough to suppose that the
killing off of few scouts and survey
ors would stop all work, and by the
time the road was half way across
hGa TO Of
who had any patriotism about MIN
was in. front OF it and doing battle.
The contractors had to employ
great many scouts and fighters to
pprotect the advance men, and / was
cone OF those thus engaged. In the
five months of my employment I kill
.sed thirty-nine Indians and brought
thirty nine scalps to camp, and there
were other scouts who did as we'll or
better. We did not lose near as
many men in proportion, as we
stought entirely on the defensive, and
9had all the advantage
BY capture occurred one morning in
September. One of the engineers OF
the road had been on a spree, and
while verg1ng on delirium tremens had
aeft camp and wondered off. He had
been gone two or three hours before
he was missed, and at midnight of
q rainy, gusty night six OF us
& started out on foot to hunt him up.
AS no one knew the direction he had
taken, each Of us went his ownway. :.
Ihere were plenty OF Indians around
.t1s, and a scout had been wounded
stthat afternoon within half a mile OF
our camp. Each man Of us who went
Sout took big chances OF being captur-
ed, but there was no hesitating or
hanging back on that account. Our
camp was close to the river, and nv
first move was to cross the stream.
The water was no more than waist
deep, and / had no trouble in reach.
ing the other bank. The engineer,
whose name was Sewell, had gone off
He was bareheaded, out Of his senses,
and had no weapons OF any sort.
Ny only hope OF finding him was that
he would become exhausted before
sgoing far and sit down.
Once across the stream, / held to
the north for about a mile, and then
turned to the left and kept on until
4 had described a quarter OF a circle
sand come to the river again. l
then went back to the starting
point and bore to the right, and it
was while on my way to the river that
four Indians suddenly rose up from
Ghe grass at my feet and seized me.
4 I can't say that was Off my guard,
but it did seem a bit queer to me as I
thought it over afterwards that /
should let the skunks get such an ad-
vantage over me. could see fairly
well for twenty feet or more around
sme, but the fellows hugged the earth
80 closely, and / happend to walk so
straight into the trap, that Twas done
for before / knew what was GO
ing on. Not a yell was uttered mot
u word spoken. Two OF them tripped
me up, and the other two piled on to
me and disarmed me, and in less than
a MINT q nv arms were ierked behind